Bounty On Plattis Aru

Wherein Garak and Dwyth head out on the trail to hunt down the nefarious Plattis
Aru and his crew of more than twenty highwaymen of vile character.

Magnimar and the road to Jurg's Ferry

Meanwhile, in grand Magnimar to the west of
Sandpoint, Lord Justice Argentine's office posted a warrant calling for the kill
or capture of one Plattis Aru and his band of cutthroat highwaymen,
a recent but notable scourge operating along trade routes radiating towards Magnimar
within three days ride as the caravan wagon rolls

50 gold rounds for Plattis himself, 5 silver discs for each of his band, which was
thought to number between 20 and 30.

This is the sort of tasty score the Dwarven bounty hunters Dwyth and Garak live for. The pair were taking
a brief ease between warrants in fair Magnimar. But truthfully they were growing
bored and thinner of purse, and perhaps were starting to recall that despite their
lucrative and successful business partnership...they don't really enjoy the pleasure
of each other's company socially.

In other words, the deadly duo were ready for some more action. And kill or capture?
Win win. No need to drag a bunch of recalcitrant scumbags all the way back to town
to collection...heads in a bag will do.

Dwyth settled their business at Madame Aavari's Boarding
House, their usual abode when sustaining a stay in Magnimar, while Garak
flitted around to visit sundry contacts of his acquaintance and pressed various
palms and maybe put his ear to some door cracks while people nearby dropped eaves.
And thus he ascertained that Plattis and his men were known to move at least some
of their loot through a fence in Jurg's Ferry a few days upriver from Magnimar.

Armed with this lead the two set out quickly, for they knew that at least some of
their rivals in the cutthroat business of bounty hunting would not be slow to act.
Time was of the essence.

Two days of travel hard even by Dwarven standards ensured that the duo covered as
much ground as most could cover in three.

And so it was that a mere couple of hours away from their destination the intrepid
pair actually came upon the very subject of their search, Plattis and his pack of
unruly brigands, flagrantly waylaying a small caravan of covered wagons that presumably
had departed from Jurg's Ferry.

The highwaymen were in full on raid mode, having blocked off the caravan by felling
a tree fore and aft, using the natural undergrowth and marshy forest on one side
of the road and the Yondabakari river on the other to make a crude but effective
killbox.

Distracted by their ongoing assault the highwaymen had not yet noticed the approaching
Dwarves, and as one the pair took to the underbrush for cover while quickly pressing
forward to close the distance. Drawing within striking distance and sharing a few
quick hand signals to coordinate, Dwyth broke cover and rushed a clutch of 3 bandits
manning the log barricade on the westernmost side of the ambush while Garak continued
to slink through the underbrush heading further up the trail

Dwyth The Stalwart

Garak The Stealthy

Dwyth cut down one of the bandits, a dirty and ill smelling human of middle years
and bad teeth, in his opening rush. The two survivors, taken aback by the materialization
of this bold Dwarf in his heavy armor and bearing a wicked axe, struck high and
low...but their nicked blades found Dwyth's armor to be more than equal to the task.
A fast melee followed, with the two increasingly desperate criminals taking ever
bigger risks.

Garak successfully made his way up the trail and found a good sniping position behind
a scrubby tree. Taking a few moments to check his eyelines and environs, and nudge
some scenery around to provide a better blind, he calmly notched and strung his
crossbow, readied a bolt, and clutched 2 more in his teeth.

Dwyth finally found an opening and switched from his carefully disciplined defensive
posture and unleashed a devastatingly powerful low and rising backswing that sent
the head of his leftmost assailant to spinning through the air.

Garak, several dozens of feet away, loosed his first bolt and took Dwyth's remaining
attacker through the back of the neck, felling him instantly. In one smooth and
surprisingly quiet motion Garak dropped one of the bolts in his teeth into his waiting
hand and had his crossbow re-cocked in an instant.

Dwyth wasted not even a step and immediately pressed forward in a disciplined military
double time, axe held at port arms and ready to jab with. Covering the gap to the
next clutch of bandits, who were too busy looting the largest wagon in the train
to have yet notice that they were no longer in complete control of the site.

Garak, timing his shot to set Dwyth up, put a bolt through the temple of the center
most of four bandits, causing the other 3 to turn and look at the victim in shocked
surprise.

Dwyth rounded the corner of the wagon just in time to get a swing at the now exposed
back of the bandit closest to him, and graciously jabbed his axe into the base of
the man's spine, severing it instantly.

Garak's third arrow took the highwayman furthest from Dwyth in the neck, knocked
him over, and nailed the twitching corpse to the side of the wagon.

The surviving brigand, not liking where this was going, tried to run...but the burly
Dwyth had too much momentum built up and was able to lunge forward to dip his lethal
axe into the would-be runner's back.

With no further targets offering themselves to his vantage, Garak reloaded on the
ready while trotting forward out of the brushline, behind the wagon edge Dwyth had
cleared and over to the other edge on the river facing side of the wagon. Tucking
a brace of spare bolts under his armpit, Garak pressed hard up against the corner
of the wagon to both grab cover and concealment and also to provide stability for
his shooting.

The jig was up now, the screams of the fallen had alerted the next pack of bandits,
a few dozen feet further down the trail, and now they were rallying. A pack of 5
turned their attention towards the barreling Dwyth.

Sighting down the eyeline of the wagon's side, Garak saw two of the brigands orienting
towards the general direction of where Dwyth must be by now. Taking quick aim, Garak
fired a shot at the closer of the two and took him high in the shoulder. Alerted
to Garak's presence, the other one turned and threw his spear but missed thanks
to the wagon's edge.

Finally closing with the next closest scumbag, Dwyth leaped the last couple of feet
and swung his axe in a deadly crescent, which left his would be foe headless. Dwyth
rolled to his feet within striking distance of the next two. One of them lunged
with a long sword while the other swung a morning star on a longish chain at Dwyth's
feet, but Dwyth batted the ball of the morning star aside and let the lunging sword
run harmlessly across his pauldron with a screech of metal but no actual harm.

Garak quickly reloaded, took careful aim, and plugged the spear chucker between
the eyes. With no more viable targets in view, before moving to a new vantage point
Garak took a moment to carefully scan in every direction.

The rest of the bandits and the hulking Plattis Aru
himself (who, it turned out, was a Half Orc!) had arrived from the other end of
the caravan...and they were not happy. No less than 6 bandits set upon Dwyth in
an avalanche of nicked blades, rusty edges, and blunt instruments, and Plattis attempted
to tackle the much smaller Dwyth, but Dwyth's stolid, stalwart Dwarven battle craft
was the match of them all and he remained intact though winded after they had spent
their fury on his unyielding defense. Responding in kind, Dwyth swung his axe around
in a blinding arc from which one bandit stumbled back with a cleft-open breastbone,
and though another absorbed most of the impact with a shield they did so at the
cost of a broken arm.

Garak quickly pressed forward along the long edge of the wagon he was sheltered
behind, to gain a commanding view of the swirling melee a couple of dozen feet away.
Though the situation was chaotic, Garak was confident enough to shoot into it knowing
that his ally Dwyth's height was less than that of their enemies. Seeing a good
shot, Garak put an arrow through the shoulder blade of another brigand.

Plattis threw a vicious kick at Dwyth's leg and offbalanced him; Dwyth fell and
4 brigands attempted to quench their steel in him, but even prostrate Dwyth was
able to fend of their attacks, though one did manage to kick dirt in his eyes.

Garak shot at Plattis, but the lucky bastard somehow spun under the flying bolt.
Nevertheless, Plattis was distracted which bought Dwyth a brief respite.

Plattis tried to stomp on Dwyth but was unable to put his full concentration into
it thanks to having to watch for more crossbow bolts, and Dwyth managed to roll
away from it. Regaining his feet, Dwyth brushed the dirt from his eyes and returned
to his defensive posture.

Garak lined up and took a shot on another brigand and put a bolt through the back
of his skull. Then he again set up for his next series of shots and checked his
quarters and back to ensure no one was sneaking up on him.

Plattis attempted to grab Dwyth's axe, but the doughty Dwarf has never been one
to let go of that WHICH IS HIS. Feeling the momentum shift in his favor, Dwyth spun
low and to the left in a violent dervish maneuver and took the legs out from beneath
two of the surviving bandits, leaving them howling and writhing upon the ground.

Turning back to the action with a re-loaded crossbow, Garak almost casually popped
off a shot to take down the final brigand, leaving only Plattis.

"He's MINE!!!!" Dwyth yelled out, determined
to grind his axe on his old grudges against those of green skin.

Shrugging, Garak went into sentry mode, constantly scanning.

"We'll see about that stunty!", Plattis roared, and pounced with furious force,
bruising Dwyth's face and splitting his lip. Shaking off the pain, Dwyth returned
the favor with a mighty swing of the flat of his axe, and rang Plattis' bell something
fierce. Squaring off, the two proceeded to trade swings in a roaming, swirling melee
with both becoming increasingly battered but neither quite able to gain the upper
hand.

Forgotten in the fray, Garak snuck around unnoticed, and finally when the battle
veered into the space between the middle wagon and the easternmost one, Garak sprung
his trap and littered the ground beneath Plattis with painful caltrops. Stepping
on a few and immediately losing his footing, Plattis was unable to avoid Dwyth and
caught the edge of Dwyth's axe in his belly.

Calling for quarter, Plattis begged for mercy, but unwilling to let his grudge against
those of goblinoid ancestry slide, Dwyth did not even hesitate to separate Plattis'
head from his shoulders.

Afterwards, the panting and injured Dwyth grumbled to Garak, "I thought I said it
clearly...he was MINE to fight!"

"And fight him you did, and quite well.", returned Garak.

"Your caltrops weren't honorable; the scum fought well, for a greenskin brute. I
would have taken him without your cheating."

"Well...I was hoping to take him alive, at least initially. I imagine they probably
keep their good loot at their camp rather than dragging it with them when they go
on raids."

"Yeah...so?"

"...so there is the small fact...perhaps less clear to you currently due to your
recent exertions...that we don't actually know where that camp is, and you just
killed the last fellow in the immediate vicinity who does know...or DID know I should
say."

Dwyth grimaced and finally grunted the validity of the point. "Fine. But, still,
even on just the bounty alone...not a bad purse...also, they made it easy...we didn't
even have to hunt them down this time."

"Yes. Money on the hoof, so to say. Now, lets bag their heads, check for survivors
from the caravan, and get moving. I'm feeling exposed here...seems
like a rather good place for an ambush..."